Droid X may give Verizon the excuse it needs to follow AT&T into tiered data plans

Verizon
recently launched its slick and large-screened Droid X smartphone.
The device received rave reviews and has been one of the most popular
smartphones that Verizon has ever offered. The Droid X is selling
well for Verizon so far, but the popularity of the handset has a
downside for the wireless provider.

According to PocketNow,
Verizon
has stated that the users of the Droid X smartphone are consuming
much more data than the users of other smartphones on the Verizon
network. Specifically, Verizon claims that Droid X user's consumer
about five
times more data than the users of other smartphones on the
network.

Many will not be surprised by the higher data usage
by Droid X owners. When consumers have a device that works well for
watching video, browsing the web and other tasks the users tend to
actually use the features. AT&T found this out with the iPhone
when users of the smartphone started to consume many times more data
than users of other devices.

One thing that isn’t clear for
the data offered by Verizon is if the increased data usage also
includes those who tether the Droid X or if it only includes data
consumed directly on the phone. AT&T used the massive consumption
of data by iPhone users as a reason to end unlimited data plans and
start putting caps on data usage for all smartphone
users.

DailyTech reported
yesterday that Verizon might announce new tiered
data caps starting on July 29. Presumably if Verizon does
introduce data caps, users who buy the unlimited data plan today will
be grandfathered in just like iPhone users who were already with
AT&T. Pricing for the Verizon tiered plans is expected to be the
same that AT&T offers at $25 monthly for 2GB and $15 monthly for
200MB.

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